|
Tora was glad that the incident with the chieftain's son had come to nothing worse, although she knew how close they had both o been to greater trouble. And as for Ulfast's request, it seemed a really starnge one to make. True, Mem was well-known for her fair voice, but that was not a reason for the chieftain's son to appear so suddenly intrested in her. If he really was intrested, that is, and there was not something hidden in his intention to see her. Something in the man's eyes and in the tone of his voice made Tora thing that was more than likely.
As Dag handed her the knife, Tora was abruptly brought back from her musings. Suddenly, with a pang of concern, she remembered that her father had sent her only to fetch his knife and then come back as quickly as possible, and that she should have been home hours ago to help her mother with dinner. She would be in deep trouble now, and she knew it. She always was when she came home late. Therefore, she took her father's knife and, after a few hurried words of gratitude to Dag, she ran out of the forge.
Yet anxious as she was to reach home as soon as possible and mend her situation as best she could, Tora resolved to take Dag's message to his wife and her sister. But she could not help wondering whether she was right in doing so. Who knew what Ulfast wanted? Tora and Mem were best friends, and Tora did not want to lead the girl to any harm. Yet there was nothing for it, and Mem would find out anyway, as Dag was bound to tell her. Therefore, she hurried towards Dag's house. She did not enter it however, but shouted from the door:
"Gunna, Mem, it's me, Tora. Dag told me to say...he told me to announce you that the Lord Ulfast, our chieftain's son wishes... that he wants Mem to come to the feast he is giving tonight and to sing for him."
Tora spoke hurriedly, stumbling with the words, wanting to end her errand as a messenger as soon as possible. After she had finished, she left without waiting for the two women's reply, wihtout even making sure that they had heard her.
Now she was on her way home. The day had been eventful, she thought, and she knew from experience that such days were bound to end in an even more eventful manner. Why, even the day when...But no, she had promised herself she would never think of that again, that she would try to forget it. The rest of the village had long forgotten, why couldn't she?
With these troubled thoughts, Tora reached her house. She entered it quickly, thinking that she might as well explain everything to her parents and get this over with so she could be allowed some peace afterwards. She began speaking, as if she was repeating a well-rehearsed speech:
"I..I know I should have been here long ago and I am sorry that I was unable to come sooner. Yet master Dag had other things on his hands, errands more pressing than the mending of a mere farmer's knife. So I had to wait."
She said nothing of her meeting with Ulfast at the forge. She knew she would have to speak of it if her father confronted her to tell her more of her reasons for returning so late, but she still felt she had better avoid this subject as much as she could. She did not want her father to know that she had risked the wrath of the chieftain's son to fall upon her and, most likely, upon her entire family also, for the sake of Dag and his own safety.
|